'It was a bucket-list thing'

A vintage B25 bomber is hosted by the Kingston Flying Club at Norman Rogers Airport in Kingston, Ont. on Monday July 30, 2018. The 1944 "Maid in the Shade" is on the North American Flying Legends of Victory Tour this summer with The Airbase Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum. Steph Crosier/The Whig-Standard/Postmedia NetworkSteph Crosier / Steph Crosier/Kingston Whig-Stan

With a flick of a switch, the B-25 bomber’s engines rumble to life. The pilot advances the throttles, and the aircraft shakes as the propellers drag the aircraft toward the runway. Once given clearance to take off at Norman Rogers Airport, the engines’ strength and power rumble as the bomber hauls its way into the air. Suddenly the earth is gone, and the 1944 “Maid in the Shade” is soaring on a clear day in Kingston.

“To be able to fly in a living legacy was pretty cool,” retired captain Wayne Johnston said after the 10-minute flight over Kingston in the medium bomber. “It was a bucket-list thing for me.”

Johnston, a former infantry reservist of 41 years, and his wife, Clare, were offered the chance for the free flight on Sunday night, and it was an easy decision. The pair drove from their home in Brooklin, Ont., north of Whitby, on Monday morning.

The B-25 is on the North American Flying Legends of Victory Tour this summer with the Airbase Arizona Commemorative Air Force Museum. During the tour, admirers are able to purchase tickets for a flight in the vintage aircraft. The Maid and crew arrived in Kingston on Monday morning after a jam-packed week in Peterborough. Hosted by the Kingston Flying Club, the bomber will be in Kingston until next Sunday.

The twin-engine Maid was one of nearly 10,000 B-25 bombers built, but it is one of only 34 still flying today. It was built in Canterbury, Kent, U.K., and flew straight into the Second World War. During its two months in service at the end of 1944, the Maid was based in Serraggia Airbase, Corsica, and flew 15 bombing missions over Italy and Yugoslavia.

In its heyday, the plane, which has nose art that features a red-headed woman wearing the tattered remnants of a Women Airforce Service Pilots uniform laying over the Mediterranean island of Corsica, could take off carrying 41,500 pounds. The 52-foot-long aircraft can fly as high as 25,000 feet, cruises at 233 m.p.h. and has a top speed of 239 m.p.h. During the war, it had 11 .50-calibre Browning machine-guns situated in eight positions for its six crew.

“For me, just the sheer lack of size was astounding,” Johnston said, peering over the 67-foot wing span of the silver B-25. “I was standing where the waist gunners would be. How the two of them would fight from the position, it must have been pretty difficult. The rear gunner position, it’s also pretty tight in there. “|

“Truly the greatest generation, the gentlemen who fly in these aircraft.”

The Maid is open to tours at the Kingston Flying Club on Tusday, Wednesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. Flights are available on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.